When it comes to birthdays, a video can be an inventive way to make your birthday greeting more fun and feel more personal. But creativity doesn’t have to be complicated. Animoto lets you create and share beautiful birthday videos—for free!
Read on to find out how you can make your own free birthday video with Animoto and get ideas for your next personalized birthday video.
How to make a free birthday video in Animoto
It doesn’t take long to create a video that says happy birthday to someone special. Take a look how you can make your own free video for a birthday.
Step 1: Start your project
When you start your video in Animoto, you’ll be taken to our template selector first. There are dozens of Animoto templates to choose from. For a simple birthday greeting, we recommend the Birthday Card template shown below, though you can choose any template you like the look of and customize it.
You should also check out our Happy Birthday Slideshow template, which tells a story that can easily be adapted to anyone celebrating a birthday.
If you want to design a video without a template, click the Start from Scratch button in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. From there, you can choose a theme and aspect ratio, and begin your video.
Step 2: Upload photos and video clips
Make your video personal with photos and video clips of your recipient. You can grab photos from social media, skim through your camera roll, or take photos of old images using a mobile device.
Step 3: Drag and drop your photos
After you’ve found the images you want to use, you can start putting your video together. Just drag your photos and video clips from the Media tray into your project. You can also try out our collage layouts or photo bursts to add visual interest to your slideshow.
Step 4: Choose your birthday colors
If you want, you can just choose a few of your recipient’s favorite colors to start off with. Use Animoto’s design tools to customize your video’s colors, fonts, and more.
Step 5: Add birthday music
Finally, it’s time to choose a song for your video. If you like the default song that comes with your template or theme, great! But if you want to find a different song to fit your video, Animoto has a variety of options. Click on the Music icon to get to our music library. Once there you can sort by genre and mood. You can also check out our list of birthday video songs to find a few of our favorites.
Happy birthday video ideas
Now that you've got the basics, here's some inspiration. Take a look at our list of 16 easy ways to celebrate with video:
1. Birthday letter
Tell the special someone what they mean to you while sharing photos and video clips that’ll make them laugh or tear up. Get started quickly by adding your own photos, video clips, and text to our Happy Birthday video template, featured below. Then change the fonts, colors, and style in just a few clicks to fit your birthday video recipient.
2. Video birthday card
If you want to create a short greeting, rather than a longer birthday message, this is the birthday video for you. Start with our Birthday Card template, shown at the top of this post, then personalize with your own photos and video clips. Update the text to match the age and interests of your recipient, and you’re ready to go in minutes!
3. Birthday party invite
Reach all your friends and family on social media with a simple video invitation that includes the date, times, and location along with photos. To make it even easier, choose our Formal Event Invitation template and adapt it to fit your party. If you're having a virtual party, you can share instructions for how to join the Zoom or Houseparty bash.
4. Birthday party recap
If you’ve got a camera roll full of photos after your latest birthday shindig, it’s time to do something with them! Relive the fun with a video album recapping the party or share your with loved ones who can't attend.
5. Birthday quote
Can’t decide what to say in a birthday ecard? Pull out a clever quote, add a couple images, and you’re done in minutes. Take a look at our list of 20 silly and sweet birthday quotes for inspiration. Then add them to a quote template, like the Fun Social Quote template.
6. Happy Birthday song
Even if you can’t be there for a loved one’s birthday, you can still make sure they hear you sing “Happy Birthday” in a sweet video message.
7. Gift for a child
Start a new birthday tradition—give your little one a video slideshow showing how he or she has grown. Birthday videos can easily be repurposed for other celebratory occasions like graduation videos, holiday videos, and more.
8. Interview video
Do you want to create a video to show at a birthday party? Try interviewing friends and family of the person celebrating a birthday. Then put the footage together in a video you can watch on a TV, project onto a screen, or share during an online meeting.
9. Blast from the past
Find your oldest, most “way back when” photos and video clips and put them together in a slideshow set to music. Your recipient will feel like they’re watching old home movies, but with a heartfelt birthday wish included.
10. Pet birthday
While a pet may not be able to appreciate the video themselves, a pet’s birthday video gives you a beautiful digital keepsake. You can also make a gift from a loved one’s pet to share with their owner.
11. Top 5 list
Have fun with your video’s format and create a top 5 list for your video birthday card. We started with the Top 5 template and made a more general greeting, but you can tailor your video to the birthday celebrant’s specific interests.
12. Year in review
Birthdays are a great time to take stock of where you are and where you’ve been. Though the video below is designed to celebrate a new calendar year, it could easily be re-worked to fit a new year in your life or the life of someone you love. Begin with our Year in Review template and add in all the big events you don’t want to forget.
13. Belated birthday
Miss out on an important birthday? A video can double as a birthday greeting and an apology. The extra effort will make your belated birthday wishes stand out even more.
14. Social media thank you
Don’t just dash off a written thank you on Facebook when you get a ton of good wishes this year. Instead, create a short video that acknowledges all the birthday love and maybe even shows how you spent your b-day.
15. Funny birthday video
Put together a video full of all your favorite corny puns or in-jokes to make a silly video that’ll make your recipient smile.
16. Business video: Whether you’re celebrating a company milestone, like the one in the Celebrating Achievements template, or helping your customers celebrate their own birthdays, video can help your brand stay on customers’ minds.
16. Gift video
Make your birthday gift a little more special with a video featuring your gift. Add instructions or background to introduce your gift—or get creative! Send your gift on an adventure that’ll make it seem even more thoughtful.
What to say in your birthday video
Here are a few ways to personalize your video and make it feel truly special.
Mention memorable experiences you’ve had together Talk about milestones your loved one has achieved Share quirks or personality traits that you love Be yourself! The more your video sounds like you, the more it’ll stand out. Still got writer’s block? Take inspiration from any of the videos shown above or check out 20 ways to say happy birthday.
How to share your birthday video
There are lots of ways to share your video with the person having a birthday. We’ll go over three of the most popular—email, social media, and watching the video with a group.
SENDING YOUR VIDEO THROUGH EMAIL
Sharing your Animoto video via email is fairly straightforward. You can do it one of two ways.
First, you can copy and paste the link for your video right into an email and send it through your email account. But if you want to stay put, you can email videos out from Animoto too. Click on the share icon from any finished video project and find the email option. You'll be able to fill in your recipients’ email addresses and add a written message, if you’d like. Then hit send, and you’re all set.
SHARING A VIDEO ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Download your video to share the file directly with someone or to upload it to your desired online destinations.
Alternatively, you can connect your social accounts with Animoto to share the video directly to more places at once. Click on the share icon from any finished video project to choose the desired online destination(s) from the options shown. You can share the video directly to your Facebook page, Facebook profile, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Don't forget to tag your birthday recipient to make sure they see it!
WATCHING VIDEOS TOGETHER
If you’re social distancing, you can set up a Zoom meeting or Google Hangout and share your video with a big group. Arrange a time to meet, then share your screen and let everyone watch your video together.
Having an in-person party? Check out our post on how to watch your video together on a television.
Tips for making an amazing birthday video
Here are a few more tips to help make sure your birthday video is a hit.
- Check social media: Don’t be limited by your camera roll. Search through your Facebook albums and Instagram images to find photos and video clips for your birthday video.
- Plan before you create: Jot down a few ideas for images and text before you get started. You can even create a folder on your computer to keep all your files where you can find them. It’ll help you organize your thoughts and create a better video.
- Choose the format that fits where you’re sharing: Go for square videos if you’re posting to your Facebook or Instagram feeds, think horizontal for presenting a video on a TV or sharing through email. If you’re making an Instagram Story featuring your b-day video, go vertical. Take a look at our post on vertical video to learn how to create your own.
- Consider your video length: If you’re sharing on social, a shorter video will get more views. If you’re presenting it over Zoom, at a party, or letting a birthday slideshow play in the background, you’ve got more room to create a longer, more detailed video.
- Remember your audience: Think about the colors, pictures, and jokes that’ll connect with the person whose birthday you’re celebrating. Try to incorporate those to make a truly special, personalized video.
Ready to create your own birthday video? Dive in and start making your one-of-a-kind gift. Happy video making!
